A framing project manager takes each house or building from a plan set to a frame that passes inspection. They catch plan conflicts before lumber ships, line up trusses, engineered beams and cranes with the builder's dates, and get extra work signed and billed.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, structure and exterior contractors · BLS, May 2025
You'll manage framing packages for home builders and general contractors, from plan review to framing inspection. You check lumber takeoffs and truss orders, coordinate engineered lumber and hardware, book cranes for trusses and wall panels, and plan crews to the builder's schedule. You also run punch work and the finish carpentry scope where we have it.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Review architectural and structural plans for shear walls, hold-downs, beams and headers before the lumber package is ordered.
Check lumber and sheathing takeoffs, and order trusses and engineered lumber with their layouts and shop drawings.
Book cranes or telehandlers for trusses, wall panels and beam lifts.
Schedule framing and shear wall nailing inspections where your jurisdiction requires them, and get corrections done before other trades rough in.
Coordinate window rough openings, blocking and backing with the builder, window supplier and other trades.
Document plan changes and extra work with photos and signatures, and bill them through change orders.
Manage the finish carpentry scope: trim and door packages, delivery timing and punch.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Check builder schedules and lot or unit releases, and plan crew moves with the Operations Manager.
Walk a frame with the Field Supervisor before inspection to check hold-downs, nailing and blocking.
Call lumber yards and truss suppliers about delivery dates and missing items.
Answer superintendent questions about layout changes or plan conflicts.
Get extra work signed by the superintendent the same day it's done.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Framing inspections passed without a correction notice: [your target].
Lumber over-orders and reorders: [your target].
Framing days per house or unit against the schedule: [your target].
Days from extra work to billed change order: [your target].
Labor cost per square foot framed: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[3+] years managing framing projects, or [5+] years running a framing crew.
Can read architectural and structural plans, truss layouts and shear wall schedules.
Knows wood framing, engineered lumber and structural hardware well enough to catch errors before inspection.
Uses [your project management software] and lumber takeoff tools.
A valid driver's license and reliable transportation to job sites across [your service area].
6. Preferred Experience
Experience with multifamily and podium buildings.
Has set wall panels and roof trusses by crane.
Finish carpentry knowledge: trim, doors and stairs.
OSHA 30 and fall protection training.
7. Physical Requirements
Walk framed floors and decks, climb ladders and stairs, and check work at height with fall protection.
Move lumber, hangers and hold-down hardware up to [50] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Subdivisions and multifamily sites across [your service area], often several in one day.
Regular hours: [6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday], plus Saturdays when a builder falls behind.
Outdoor work in sun, wind, rain and cold.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new project manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What a framing project manager handles that others don't
Every project manager tracks scope, dates and money. A framing PM also has to catch structural problems on paper, before a crew builds them into a house.
Buyer options change each lot's frame
Production builders sell the same plan with options: a longer garage, a bonus room, a covered patio, a different window package. Each option can change walls, beams, trusses and hardware. Get the option sheet for every lot, mark the plan set to match, and confirm the lumber and truss orders reflect it before delivery. Get stamped truss sheets that match, too: Fairbanks, Alaska, for one, won't approve a framing inspection without them. Source: City of Fairbanks, Alaska: building FAQ on framing inspections (example).
Drains get planned before the joists
A toilet or tub drain that lands on a floor joist or I-joist turns into a cut, an extra header or a call to the engineer. Ask the plumber where drains and large ducts will run while you review the joist layout, and have the supplier shift members before the order ships.
Rough openings come from the window order
The plan may list window sizes, but the rough opening comes from the maker's spec for the units the builder actually ordered. Get the window order or spec sheet for each house before walls are framed, and flag any mismatch with the builder, because a wrong opening means reframing after sheathing.
Anchors get checked before the slab is poured
Anchor bolts and cast-in hold-down straps are set by the foundation crew, but your frame depends on them. Ask the builder to let you check the layout before the pour, or walk the slab before you deliver. A missing or misplaced anchor needs a fix the engineer approves, which can hold up the frame.
Taller wood buildings need shrinkage hardware
On multistory wood buildings, including podium jobs, the engineer may call for continuous rod tie-downs with take-up devices that tighten as the wood shrinks. Simpson Strong-Tie puts that shrinkage at up to a quarter inch or more per floor. They go in floor by floor in a set order. Get the rod supplier's layout early, make sure your crews have installed them before, and book any special inspection the plans require. Source: Simpson Strong-Tie: Shrinkage compensation devices (engineering blog, updated April 2026).
How much framing & carpentry project managers make
The closest BLS group for framing & carpentry project managers is construction managers. Construction managers who work for foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors earned a median of $100,690 a year ($48.41 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $114,990 median for construction managers in all industries. About 24,550 of the 380,360 construction managers in that survey work for structure and exterior contractors.
Set a salary. Any framing PM bonus works best when it rides on passed inspections, billed change orders or labor cost per house. The template leaves pay blank, so set your number against the BLS figures shown on this page.
Structure and exterior contractors
$100,690$100,690 median Middle half $78,100–$129,840 10th–90th $61,290–$171,100
All industries
$114,990$114,990 median Middle half $88,550–$151,640 10th–90th $69,690–$189,440
$25k$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k$175k$200k$225k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Structure and exterior contractors
$61,290
$78,100
$100,690
$129,840
$171,100
All industries
$69,690
$88,550
$114,990
$151,640
$189,440
BLS doesn’t publish pay for framing contractors on their own. These figures cover foundation, structure and building exterior contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Reads architectural and structural plans and spots conflicts between them
Checks a lumber takeoff and truss layout against the plans
Writes change orders a superintendent will sign the same day
Keeps several builders' schedules straight and warns them early when a date slips
Knows hold-downs, shear walls and engineered lumber well enough to talk with an engineer
Teach these on the job
Your project management and takeoff software
Each builder's portal, option sheets and billing rules
Your truss and lumber suppliers' ordering steps
Rod tie-down systems, if you move into multifamily
Finish carpentry packages: trim, doors and stairs
Most framing PMs work in a plan viewer such as Bluebeam, a takeoff tool, each builder's scheduling portal and your own project software. Truss and engineered lumber suppliers send layouts as PDFs to review and approve. In the field it's a tape, a laser and a phone.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Plan conflicts
The truss drawings show a girder truss in a different place than the structural plan. What do you do?
A strong answer: Sends a written question to the builder and engineer, holds the truss order until it's settled, and documents the answer.
Behavioral · Clearing corrections
Tell me about a time you got an inspection correction cleared quickly.
A strong answer: Got the crew back fast, confirmed the fix, rebooked the inspection, and kept the builder updated.
The template leaves every target blank on purpose. Fill each one in from your last few months of inspections, orders and billing, and revisit them as builders and plans change.
Framing inspections passed without a correction notice
Divide inspections passed on the first visit by all framing and shear wall inspections the PM scheduled. Note each correction's cause, such as the plans, the crew or another trade.
Lumber over-orders and reorders
Track the value of lumber left over or returned on each house, and count every extra order placed after the package shipped. Both point back to takeoffs and plan changes.
Framing days per house or unit against the schedule
Count working days from the first wall to frame complete, by house plan and builder, and compare them with the builder's schedule. Leave out days lost to an unready lot, but list them separately.
Days from extra work to billed change order
Measure calendar days from the date extra work was done to the date its change order went to the builder, using the signed field ticket as the start.
Labor cost per square foot framed
Divide each house's crew labor cost, from payroll or crew invoices, by the framed square feet on its plan. Compare plans and crews against each other, not only month to month.
Career path
EstimatorPrices framing packages from builder plans.
Project managerRuns framing packages for a set of builders or buildings.
Should a framing project manager trust the lumber yard's takeoff?
Use it as a draft. Yards build takeoffs fast and can miss a shear wall, a beam change on a revision or a buyer option. Check plates, studs, sheathing and beams, the parts that cost the most to get wrong, and compare totals with similar houses you've framed. A reorder means an extra delivery and a crew standing around.
How much does a framing & carpentry project manager make?
Construction managers who work for foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors earned a median of $100,690 a year ($48.41 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $78,100 and $129,840 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
How should a framing project manager handle a plan conflict the superintendent can't answer?
Write it up as a question to the builder, with sheet numbers and a photo or sketch, and ask for the designer's or engineer's answer in writing. Don't let a crew guess on anything structural. Keep framing other parts of the house while you wait, and log the dates asked and answered so any delay has a record.
Why does the framing PM template mention Saturdays?
Builders promise closing dates to buyers, and when a house falls behind they may ask framing to work a Saturday to catch up. The PM may need to walk a frame, meet a delivery or answer a crew that day. Tell applicants how many Saturdays a typical year brings and whether the PM gets a weekday off in return.
What does checking work at height involve for a framing project manager?
Walking second-floor decks and roof framing before sheathing or inspection, climbing ladders and stairs to look at hangers, top plates and truss connections, and moving hardware or a few pieces of lumber when a crew is short. Use the same fall protection your crews use at that spot. The template's accommodation line belongs in your ad too, with the name of the person who handles requests.
